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(FILES) This file photo taken on April 6, 2018 in Moscow shows a person posing while holding a smartphone with the Telegram messenger application on display. Image Credit: AFP

Moscow: Messaging app Telegram will launch pay-for services in 2021, its Russian-born founder Pavel Durov said Wednesday, as the growing company needed "at least a few hundred million dollars per year".

"Telegram will begin to generate revenue, starting next year," he said in a statement. "We will be able to launch countless new features and welcome billions of new users."